


Book I: Air

by snap_snap_snap



Series: Sam's the Avatar and Dean's Still Got Self-Worth Problems [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Supernatural
Genre: Destiel and Sabriel to come, M/M, Minor Character Death, Sam's the Avatar, Supernatual AU, more tags as I think of them, the impala is a sky bison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-12 11:16:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2107770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snap_snap_snap/pseuds/snap_snap_snap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam recalled what his brother had told him long ago when Sam has asked about the war: Long ago, the four nations of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air had lived together in harmony. But, when Fire Lord Cain decided that the Fire nation deserved more, he started the war, and that eventually it would be up to Sam to stop him.<br/>Of course, back then Sam had no idea what Dean had meant by that. He’d always just thought Dean was reciting some meaningless idealistic thoughts Mom had told him before she died. As it turns out, that was not the case.<br/>You see, Sam what was they called the “Avatar,” and he’s destined to kick Fire Lord Lucifer’s ass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the start of a four part series with five chapters per part. I don't know when they'll be updated, I just know that they will. if they aren't for some horribly long length of time, well, I'm sorry but that might mean that I've given up on this. Hopefully that won't happen, though! Any feedback is greatly appropriated, and feel free to post any suggestions you have or ideas of where this fic should go in the comments! Also, if you want, you can look at the notes at the bottom of each chapter to see who, if anyone, dies. Also, if anyone would like to help be beta or better figure out how to post stuff on this site, please tell me. I'm hopelessly lost and confused.

First of all, let’s give you the background information: When the war started around a century ago, give or take a few years, the Fire Nation knew that the only thing that would, in the end, stand between them and victory was the Avatar.  
             According to the cycle, the next Avatar was to be an airbender, then a waterbender, then an earthbender, and finally he/she would be a firebender once again. The Fire Nation first attacked the Air Temples and went on a rampage, wiping out each temple until they found the young Avatar and killed him. Then they did the same to the Water Tribes, killing the girl before she could even fully master waterbending. The Earth Kingdom was forced to give up their Avatar at the threat of the same happening to them (they were reluctant at first, but once the Fire Nation managed to massacre a good many of their smaller towns and cities they agreed).  
              Now the Avatar was back to being a firebender, and the Fire Nation hoped they the child would be raised like every other child in the Fire Nation and would help his/her country rather than hinder it.  
             This was not the case.  
Sam, whose real name was Surya, was a firebender, yes, but he wasn’t born in the Fire Nation. He was born in a small Earth Kingdom town that hadn’t been attacked with two non-bending parents. No one knew he was the Avatar until six months after his birth, when an intruder tried to harm him in his crib and Sam’s eyes started to glow. A powerful burst of fire went throughout the small nursery, which, unfortunately, killed his mother as well as the intruder.  
             His brother, Dean, AKA Durjaya, was able to save him from the burning house while his father tried in vain to help his mother. Sam got out unscathed, and for that, along with the death of his mother, his father hated him.  
             The two sons changed their names and left the village. They ran away from their father the first chance they got, and since haven’t heard from him nor tried to find him.

Back to the present, and Sam is being pulled out of his thoughts by Dean complaining about their apparent lack of food and money. “Maybe we’d have more money if you didn’t waste it all on those ‘gentlemen’s magazines’ you get all the time.”  
             “Hey,” Dean replies, “those are works of art!”  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. I have an idea: How about you do some bending for money?” Dean is an earthbender. It’s weird, since neither of their parents could bend, but both of their kids can, and two different elements, at that.  
             Dean shrugs and glances around the sleepy Earth Kingdom town they are currently staying in. “Do you really think they need the help of an earthbender here? They probably have so many these people hardly know what to do with ‘em all.”  
             “So what? There’s no harm in asking around. Also, I doubt many of them are as good as you.”  
             Dean shoots Sam a look at that. “I’m nothing special, Sam. With people like me it’s a dime a dozen.”  
             Sam sighs but doesn’t argue.

Gabriel groans and marches his way onto the deck of his ship, fully dressed in his usual Fire Nation attire. “Uncle, are you sure there have been no recent sightings of the Avatar?”  
             Michael turns towards his younger brother, away from his wonderful tea, and sighs. “No, Gabriel. If there was, I’d tell you.” Gabriel nods but does nothing to hide his unhappiness as he heads back towards his room.  
             Gabriel and Michael have a bit of an unusual relationship. They are brothers, technically, but since Gabriel was practically raised by his brothers he saw it fit that he would call his eldest ‘uncle.’ Michael never really minded. In fact, he endorsed it when Gabe started to call him that when he was around five, when Michael was already turning thirty and on his way to achieving a fine military reputation. Now Gabe was about to turn eighteen and was about as far from the smiling, happy kid he once was as he could get. Michael still looked pretty young, but he had since given up on his brother’s war and was far more focused on beating every living soul at Pai Sho. Oh, and one more thing – Gabriel now has a huge scar from a burn that covers most of his back.

Castiel ducks out of the small shop. Someone seems to have noticed his tattoos, despite his best effort to hide them, and three….two…one… Yeah, and here comes the yelling.  
             Against any logic or reason, the public has decided to blame the Air Nomads for the massacre of the other two nation’s people. It started off with some benders from the Northern Water Tribe criticizing the Air Nomads from the Southern Air Temple about their lack of ability to protect the Avatar and overall passive nature, which led to the massacre in the Southern Water Tribe in search of the next one, but word spread fast when there was finally someone to blame for all of this besides the Fire Nation, who now seemed impossible to stop. This depressed Castiel at first, though he got over it quickly and sucked it up like it was a fact of life.  
             But it does make things very difficult. Especially when he’s in a crowded, public place trying to buy food.  
             Castiel sort of haf-runs as he tries to get as far away from the shop as he can before anyone gets the idea to come after him. It was a horrible idea to leave his temple at all, he decides, though it’s too late now to do anything. Once he is far enough away from the shop, he ducks into an alley and pulls out his glider. Without a second thought he rises into the air and flies towards the next closest town.

Dean, per Sam’s never-ending string of reasons as to why Dean should try and find some work where he services clearly aren’t needed, eventually caves and starts asking around. After about twenty minutes of asking he finally finds some poor old lady who asks for his help with something to do with her cat in exchange for some copper pieces. In the end, Dean comes back to where he’s staying with Sam with scratches all over his face and arms and half of the amount of money he was promised.  
             “What happened?” Sam asks, stunned and moving quickly to his backpack for something to help.  
             “Fuckin’ old ladies, man,” Dean grumbles, snatching a cloth out of Sam’s hand when he offers it.  
             “How much money did you get?” Sam asks as Dean cleans his wounds. In response, Dean drops three copper pieces onto the floor in front of his feet.  
             “She ripped me off! She said she’d give me six but when the fuckin’ cat attacked me, oh no, that makes the payment go _down_.” He replies with clear exasperation. “How was I supposed to know that that the damn thing was so skittish? I shook the tree it was on only a _little_ —“  
             “Wait, were you saving a cat _from a tree_? That’s about the most stereotypical thing you could do!”  
             “Shut up, bitch.”  
             “Jerk.”  
             “Anyway, next time you want money, you go find a job. I’m tired of this shit.” Dean knows he doesn’t really mean that. Technically, Sam still can only firebend, which is never a good thing to show off anywhere but in the Fire Nation at this point.  
             “I have an idea then: instead of getting a job, how about you start showing me some earthbending?”  
             “I’ve told you before, Sammy, that’s not gonna happen. You need an earthbending master, not me.”  
             “You’re about as good as a master I’m ever gonna get for the time being!”  
             “Sammy, no! Besides, you have to learn airbending first, right? Earthbending comes last on the to-do list.”  
             “Well, do you see any airbender ready and willing to teach me?”  
             “No, but—“  
             “Exactly. Just show me a few moves!”  
             “No!”  
             “Yes!”  
             “Okay, fine.” Sam smiles up until he hears what Dean says next. “First we find you an airbending teacher, _then_ I show you a few basics. Got it?” Sam groans but agrees, and the two leave the little abandoned hut they found, grab their stuff, and head off towards the nearest Air Temple.

Castiel stays up in the air for as long as he can until he starts gliding over a series of abandoned Earth Kingdom villages. It was obvious that the Fire Nation had attacked here, since most of the buildings were burned to a crisp. Lucky him— the vegetation has started to grow back and there are probably a few fruit trees growing somewhere.  
He drops to the ground easily and flips his staff as the wings of the glider retract. He was right. Growing proudly in front of him are two apple tree saplings, which is convenient since at that moment Castiel’s stomach decides to make itself heard.  
             He plucks a few while his eyes dart around looking for any building left standing that can provide any means of shelter for the night. He’s been flying all day and he’s more than ready for some sleep.  
             Fate, however, seems to have other plans.  
             At that moment he hears two voices having some kind of conversation—with one of the participants swearing heavily, at least in his opinion—and the sound is coming closer. He grabs a few more apples and ducks into the remains of what was once a small shop/hut/thing (probably).  
             The voices get closer and closer until finally he steps out of the hut, staff at the ready, and prepared to take on someone who must have seen him up in the air and now wishes to attack him.  
             He’s met with the greenest eyes he’s ever had the good fortune of seeing.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean immediately moves into his usual earthbending stance when he sees some guy (who happens to have the bluest eyes Dean’s ever seen and _damn_ why does Dean find that so attractive?) move out from behind the remains of a building, clearly ready for a fight. The other guy makes the first move, sending a powerful gust of air in Dean and Sam’s direction (though Sam moves out of the way and makes it clear he isn’t involved, or at least he makes it clear to Dean, and the other guy seems to pick up on it since he doesn’t go after Sam again). It is clearly supposed to knock Dean off-balance, but he manages to pull up a wall of rock before it hits.  
               (So, this guy’s an airbender? He hardly looks like it. Well, you can see his tattoos, but his dark, messy hair covers most of it up, and that along with the beige trench-coat and long pants covers the rest of the tattoos up pretty well.)  
               Dean wasn’t looking for a fight before, but now that this guy’s attacked first? Well, he can hardly back down, now can he? He moves his feet subtly from behind the wall, and listens to figure out where the other guy’s standing without bringing down the wall. Dean hears wood (probably the guy's staff) hit rock/the ground and sends said wall forward in the direction.  
               The blue-eye-guy manages to jump over it with perfect timing and sends another gust of wind in Dean’s direction. Dean dodges, though he still gets hit and has to dig his heels into the ground to keep from becoming off-balance at all, and waits for the next time his opponent makes contact with the ground to drag up a rock and send it in Mr. Blue Eyes’ direction.

Castiel just barely managed to dodge the first rock sent his way, and, through whatever luck he has, doesn’t get his with the green-eyed-man’s second attack. He is clearly very good, since Castiel has only seen him make minimal movements and had attacked with quite a bit of power. Yes, Castiel has merely attacked twice as well, but those two attacks were pretty much his best offensive moves (otherwise it's just the same moves done in different ways) and both were dodged easily by the other man. He is clearly outmatched here, and he knows it, but who knows what this guy will do to him if he surrenders?  
               As it turns out, he won’t have to.  
               The third man that had not attacked him before becomes involved now.

Sam moved out of the way at first when the fight started, but the guy Dean is fighting actually looks like a pretty good airbender. After all, Dean hasn't beaten him into the ground yet, and they've been going for a good few minutes. And so, he moves in between the two with his arms outstretched and hopes that the airbender will stop attacking along with Dean.  
               “Stop!” Well, that manages to get their attention. Sam sighs and continues. “Why are you two even fighting? I mean, is there some unspoken agreement going on here? Because, as far as I know, we’ve never met you before,” Sam gestures to whoever Dean is fighting, “and I’d think I’d know, or at least have heard some complaints, if you pissed Dean off enough for him to come out swinging.”

Castiel thinks about this and moves out of a fighting stance. Why is he fighting this man, who he now knows is named Dean? He had assumed that this man, Dean, had tracked him and was looking for a fight, and he didn’t question it when Dean first attacked him. But now it seems that he has attacked pre-maturely.  
               “I apologize. I believed that you both were going to attack me due to my being an airbender, but it is now clear that I have attacked without viable evidence. If you’ll accept my apology, I’ll be on my way and I promise not to cause you any further trouble.”  
               “Hey, wait!” The man who stopped the fight says quickly. “You’re an airbender, right?”  
               “I thought that that should be quite obvious by this point,” Castiel replies, not meaning to be as rude as he probably sounded (though Castiel is known for being socially-inept at his temple and probably doesn’t realize that he seems rude in the first place).  
               “Yeah, you’re right, sorry, I was, uh, would you mind teaching me airbending?”  
               Castiel looks at the man, who is starting to look like an overgrown puppy to Castiel, oddly. “Why would you want me to try to teach you that? If anything, you look like you should be an earthbender.”  
               The other man huffs a small laugh. “Yeah, I guess I do, but, uh-“  
               “He’s the Avatar,” Dean interrupts curtly. “He needs to learn airbending first, so, you gonna be his teacher or what?”  
               Castiel shrugs slightly, hardly an up and down motion of his shoulders. “I don’t see why not.” Dean grins at the other man, and Castiel continues. “My name is Castiel. I hope I can help you. That is, you do intend to stop the Fire Lord?”  
               The other man nods. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I try and stop him? He’s just a murderer with a throne.”  
               “Many say that you were raised as a firebender and that you were taught that you should help him in the war, so please forgive me if I don’t believe in your good intentions without proof.”  
               Dean jumps back into the conversation here. “I’m his brother, and I’ll vouch that we’ll do whatever it takes to stop Fire Lord Lucifer. That enough proof for you, Castiel?” he announces with tone that suggests that he's had to explain himself before and is tired of having to do so.  
               Castiel nods in agreement. He should probably ask for something more substantial as proof, but he finds himself trusting those green eyes and far-too-pretty face quite easily. It scares him a little, actually, how easily he trusts this man, but he figures that, if all else fails and something goes wrong, he can probably use his glider and fly away.

Gabriel paces back and forth in his room. He can’t do much else, really. If he tries to practice his bending out in the open, his secret will be out, and besides training and practice the only things to do are play Pai Sho and drink tea with his uncle, and that simply isn’t going to happen.  
               It's kinda funny, really. If Michael had asked him to play Pai Sho and drink tea when he was fifteen or younger, Gabriel probably would have agreed, as long as he got a good amount of candy in exchange. Now, though his passion for anything sweet remains, his brain has one lone setting, and it doesn’t include either of the two activities mentioned beforehand: find the Avatar. He knows that this probably pisses off two-thirds of those who work on his ship, but hey, what can he do? Finding the Avatar is pretty much his last chance of returning home with a lick of honor. And, even so, he still can’t seem to bring himself to give much of a damn about honor.  
               What drives him is the idea that his brother, Lucifer, is sitting at home right now laughing about how useless Gabriel is.  
               Gabriel is pulled out of his thoughts by someone knocking at his door. “Come in,” he calls, the words sounding more like a huff of annoyance than anything even remotely welcoming.  
               Michael pokes his head in and says, “There have been rumors of two men matching the Avatar and his brother’s descriptions being spotted in an Earth Kingdom village.”  
               Gabriel shoots out of his room the second the words leave his uncle’s mouth, and he heads for the ship’s deck. “Set us on the course that will get us there fastest.”  
               Michael shuts Gabe’s door and sighs overdramatically as he walks after him, not bothering to try and catch up. “A simple 'thank you' would be nice every once in a while…”  
               “Thank you!” Michael hears yelled back from the front of the hallway, and his eyes crinkle with the small smile that forms.

Michael couldn’t understand why Gabriel wanted to go into Lucifer’s war chamber so much. Gabriel was a happy sixteen year-old, and Michael wouldn’t have thought that he would be interested in battle plans and all that. But, Gabe was, and it wasn’t like Michael had ever succeeded when he tried to _not_ give Gabriel something, so he gave in easily and allowed Gabe in, but only if Gabe promised to be quiet.  
               Well, of course Gabriel didn’t keep quiet.  
Hardly ten minutes in and Gabriel was arguing over the merits of some attack plan with some old general or another, and, in all honesty, Gabriel did make a good point at the time. The problem was that it was not his place to randomly shout out his opinions whenever he wished, according to Lucifer, and for that Gabriel had to be punished.  
               Gabriel was challenged to an Agni Kai, which he accepted naïvely, thinking that Lucifer would send some well-trained soldier or at best Crowley to fight for him, AKA someone Gabriel could probably get away with beating with hand-to-hand combat, as Lucifer usually did whenever challenged or otherwise. So you can imagine Gabe’s surprise when, on the day of the duel, he was faced by his own brother.  
               Gabriel refused to fight at first, since it was own flesh and blood that he would be attacking and also since Lucifer could kick his ass if he tried to not use his bending, but after Lucifer made a few harsh comments that poked at just the right old wounds and insecurities, Gabriel came at him with all his strength. Michael turned away and shut his eyes at that point, but he knew what had happened all too well, since the same had been done to him when he was young and had fought Lucifer for the throne.  
               Or, at least, that’s what he _thought_ would happen.  
               Michael has locked back at the duel when he heard the whole room gasp collectively, including Raphael, who was not easily shocked. Lucifer was trapped in ice. He hadn’t been burned. Actually, it was clear that Gabriel couldn’t use fire at all. Gabriel was a waterbender born into the royal family of firebenders, and Lucifer seemed to take sick enjoyment as he pointed this out in the most offensive way (to Gabriel) he possibly could. (It was kind of amazing that Gabe had managed to keep it secret for so many years, actually. Michael had started to think that Gabe couldn't bend at all.)  
               Lucifer melted the ice easily and attacked Gabriel’s back with fire, lightening, and anything else he had within reach, making sure that the abuse was only on the area of his back that would be hidden for whatever reason. After that, Gabriel was dishonored and forced to leave the Fire Nation, though the reason why had not been allowed outside of the room in which the duel was held, with his solitary hope of ever gaining any rights to the throne being to capture the Avatar.


	3. Chapter 3

Gabriel’s ship is anchored barely far enough from the shore to be hidden from any prying eyes sent that way while he, Michael, and a few other Fire Nation soldiers get on a smaller boat and make their way to the shore. The small group runs the small boat aground hardly a few miles from where the Avatar was last seen, and two of the three soldiers are left there to guard the boat. Gabriel and Michael and the remaining soldier move quickly into the town, threatening some of the people there until they get the information they need, and leave, not even giving enough time for a few earthbenders to organize themselves and attack them.  
            Within two hours the two small groups meet for the first time.

Castiel. Mr. Blue Eyes’ name is Castiel.  
             Of course, Dean has already gotten into the habit of calling him Cas, which Cas doesn’t seem to mind. Actually, if Dean wasn’t imagining it, Cas’ eyes seemed to light up the first time Dean called him Cas.  
             But that must have been only in his head, right?  
             Right.  
             Anyway, so, Cas and Sam are discussing in depth how Sam will begin airbending training while Dean leads the way. He isn’t totally sure where they’re supposed to be going, but he assumes the next nearest village if only for supplies. If either one of them want to complain and to say that they should be going wherever, they are free to do so.  
             His thoughts about directions sort of go out of the metaphorical window when they’re meeting face-to-face with three guys dressed in full Fire Nation garb.  
             Well, shit.

Castiel is having an in-depth conversation with his new pupil over the guidelines to airbending and how the monks have raised him to live when the fight starts.  
             Before he fully knows what’s going on he already has staff out and at the ready, and just in time too because a man clearly from the Fire Nation suddenly sends a surge of fire in Dean’s direction. Cas sees Dean wait until the last second before he protects himself with a wall of rock, much in the same way he defended himself against Castiel. As soon as Castiel is sure Dean is protected behind the wall, he jumps above it and sends a gust of wind while still mid-air in the direction of the soldier, and silently thanks the unseen deities of the world for allowing them to be on an elevated piece of land as this battle takes place. The soldier falls over what is pretty much a small cliff (it won’t kill him, but it will get him out of the way and possibly give him some broken bones).

Sam is startled when suddenly there are three Fire Nation guys attacking them, but he isn’t surprised. He has pretty much been waiting for this to happen since he and Dean left their father. But, he knows better than to reveal himself from the get-go, and choses to hide behind Dean, as annoyingly weak an act as that is, for the time being.  
             Castiel is the first to fight back and send the one with a face-mask over a cliff. Dean follows soon after, shooting the rock wall forward, which disorientates Cas who was on top of it before he lands on his feet, and trying to knock hopefully one of the other two guys over the same cliff.  
             Sadly, the others don’t fall for it, and both dodge it easily, even though it looks like one of them can’t be younger than fifty. Sam decides it’s okay for him to fight back when the younger one, who is adorably short for how powerful he’s trying to sound, yells, “Come out and fight me, Avatar, instead of hiding like the coward you are!”  
             Sam steps out from behind Dean and punches the air, effectively sending out a burst of fire in the other two’s general direction. He steps back behind Dean as Dean pulls up another wall of earth for shelter in front of himself and Cas jumps on top of it again. (“Cas, get down!” Dean yelps at Cas. “No, Dean, It’s easier for me to fight from up here,” Cas replies.) Sam isn’t a coward, but he knows there’s no way in Hell he’s beating two well-trained Fire Nation soldiers when he’s hardly got any firebending mastered himself.

Michael is shocked when there is a third bender present fighting on the Avatar’s side. He is even more shocked when said bender shoots the extra soldier, a well-trained man, over a cliff. The earthbender, presumably the Avatar’s brother if the information is true, attacks next, and Michael is surprised for a third time by the earthbender’s skill. The Avatar attacks with a weak bit of fire, but then goes back to hiding behind his brother before Michael or Gabe can counterattack. The third bender is still above the wall, however, and is completely exposed.  
             Michael shoots fire at the airbender while he’s focused on Gabriel, and the flames almost hit him, and would have if he had not put the fire out with another gust of wind at the last second. Still, it had the desired effect, and the grass around the trio was set on fire due to the airbender’s defense, and Gabriel was able to sneak away easily while the flames rose and rose.

Gabriel moves around the wall of dirt while the earthbender focuses on getting his uncle pinned, unsuccessfully, under said wall of dirt, and the airbender tries to put the fire out. Gabe draws one of his twin blades silently and swiftly moves behind the Avatar, still standing uselessly behind the earthbender, and mumbles something about not speaking unless he wants to get his throat slit.  
             The Avatar nods curtly and moves backwards with Gabriel until they are both a good ways away from his uncle and the other two. After that, Gabriel lifts his sword from the annoyingly tall man’s throat, and makes him turn to face Gabe.  
             “Are you going to come willingly, or do I have to force you?”  
             The other man laughs incredulously. “Who says I’m coming with you at all?”  
             “I am!” Gabe declared.  
             “Whatever you say, shorty,” the taller man responds with some cross between a smile and a smirk.  
             “You’re the one’s that’s as big as a saber-tooth-moose-lion!” Gabe shakes off his current annoyance at being 5’5 to the other’s apparent height of 8 fucking feet tall and continues. “Your firebending is weak, and since you keep hiding behind others, I guess that means that you haven’t begun learning the other elements yet. Am I right?” He says cockily while the other man’s smile falters.  
             “Hey, at least I _can_ bend,” the other one replies after a beat.  
             “I can bend!” So much for cocky. Now he’s merely tiny and angry again. The tall guy looks at him with what can only be described as a ‘bitch, please’ face. Gabriel doesn’t get a chance to prove himself right, though, since a giant rock comes flying at him from seemingly nowhere and pushes him off of the other side of the hill-thing they are all on (excluding the soldier and now Gabriel).

Michael curses under his breath. As it turns out, it was pretty difficult to keep both the airbender and the earthbender preoccupied once the fire was out and after the earthbender noticed his brother was gone.  
             Michael had been able to keep up with them both for a while, but he isn’t as young as them and, though he has much more experience, he was getting tired quickly. Eventually the earthbender was able to run off to go help his brother while the airbender kept on fighting Michael.  
             Then, he hears Gabriel yelp in what can only be pain, and runs towards him, no longer caring about the airbender. It seems he doesn’t care about Michael, either, since he and the other two simply run off. That’s a good thing, actually, as it turns out, since Gabe has managed to sprain his ankle.  
             Gabriel fights him at first, telling Michael that he needs to get the Avatar, but Michael holds him back, and, after Gabriel rants for ten minutes, is able to bring him back to the small boat, the soldier lagging behind them, where they get help from the other two soldiers.

“What the hell, Sammy?” Dean demands as they run from the firebenders (Dean thinks they can both firebend) as he tears up the terrain behind them with his earthbending (yeah, sure, they’ll probably be able to find them again someday, but why make it easy for them to follow them now? Then he remembers that they could track the trail of destruction and stops tearing up the terrain behind them).  
             “He came up behind me and put a knife to my throat, Dean. What was I supposed to do?”  
             “I didn’t see any knives to your throat when I saved your sorry ass!”  
             “I believe he was distracting the small man so that you could attack him more easily,” Cas interrupts. Dean shoots Cas a look, which Cas responds to with an inquisitive stare, and Dean sighs.  
             “Yeah, well, don’t let it happen again. Who knows what they’ll do to you if the Fire Nation catches you.”  
             “Keep me locked in a cell encased in iron with no plausible way to escape and torture me until the end of time?”  
             “Exactly. Now, shouldn’t you and Cas get to work on your airbending stuff now?” They had slowed from running to walking, so Dean guesses this means they’re far enough away from those Fire nation guys.  
             “Uh, yeah, sure. Cas, wanna get to work now?”  
             “I see no reason not to.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone sounds too country in this fic it is because I am country and I don't know what people sound like when they aren't country so I don't know how I'm supposed to write about what I don't know about. ;_;

Despite his insistence on not being the best airbender to teach the Avatar airbending, Cas is actually a damn good teacher. He’s pretty tough, though, and isn’t distracted from the task at hand easily. It has hardly been two weeks since Sam and Dean had met Castiel, and already Sam knows a hell of a lot about airbending and how it works and can even do most of the basic airbending moves. Of course, most of it is evasion, no offense yet (not that there is much offence in the first place), but that’s good since the entirety of the small amount Sam knows about firebending is strictly offence.  
             Dean sometimes tries to sit in on a lesson or two since, according to Cas, watching others bend other elements helps to make your own bending stronger, but Dean always walks away hardly a few minutes in, grumbling about something or other. It makes sense that he would do that, since air and earth are opposites of each other after all, but more than once Sam could swear that he saw Dean blushing as he left.  
             Tonight Cas is different, though. They have set up camp and are settling down for the night, but instead of discussing the root of airbending and what it all means compared to the other three elements and all of that like usual, he’s strangely quiet.  
             “Cas, are you okay?” Sam asks after about an hour of this.  
             “Hmm?” Castiel glances up from his hands, looking out of it even after blinking a few times.  
             “You’ve been zoned out all night. Somethin’ wrong?” Cas shakes his head in response and looks back down at his hands.  
             “Hey, man, if something’s wrong you gotta tell us,” Dean chimed in. Cas just stares at Dean for a second and then sighs.  
             “I was thinking about my temple. I left sort of unexpectedly, and I haven’t been back in at least seven months.”  
             “Why don’t we stop by there, then?” Sam suggests.  
             “Yeah, we can show Sam some _real_ airbenders instead of only your sorry self,” Dean jokes. Cas, though, doesn’t seem to get it, and looks confused, and maybe even a little hurt? Dean clearly has noticed that he’s said something wrong because he continues with, “I’m kidding, really, Cas. You’re a great teacher for Sam and we can’t think of anyone better to teach ‘im.” Dean tries to smile and laugh it off (like he usually does when accidentally offending someone and doesn’t want to start a brawl), but Cas still looks like a kicked puppy.  
             “That is simply because you have never met any other airbenders,” Castiel states as he gets up and leaves for tent.  
             Dean sighs and groans, saying, “Fuck, I fucked up,” and presses his thumb and forefinger to his temples as soon as Cas is out of ear-shot.  
             “Uh, Dean,” Sam asks suspiciously, “do you like Cas?”  
             “Well, yeah, ‘course I like him, dumbass. You think I’d let him tag along if I didn’t?”  
             “No, I mean, do you _like_ like him?”  
             Dean shoots Sam a look. “What are we, in third grade? Really, Sammy?” After that, Dean also leaves for his tent, leaving Sam to put out the fire before going to sleep in his own tent.

It’s morning, and Dean is still going over the events of the night before in his mind. Why in Hell did he say that? Of _course_ Cas wouldn’t understand the joke! He never gets any of Dean’s other jokes, nor does he get any of the references! God, he should just seal his mouth shut before anything else stupid comes out!  
             Oh, right. No “female-orientated-entertainment” moments.  
             Either way, now he’s gonna have to deal with a grumpy and/or pouty baby in a trench-coat all the way to whatever Air Temple they’re headed for. Dean mentally groans and complains about what a pain in the ass this is going to be, until he goes outside and sees Cas moving around like normal. Well, not like normal, exactly. Cas made breakfast. Or Dean can assume he has, since he can hear that his brother is still snoring, and there if food next to where Sam made the fire-pit last night. (Dean actually finds this strangely endearing and doesn‘t want to analyze why it makes him so happy that he’s giddy when he thinks about Cas making breakfast for him on a regular basis.)  
            “You made breakfast?” Dean inquires, but Cas continues moving around, packing up his tent like he didn’t hear Dean. Dean moves closer to the smell of food, and is happy to see three muffin-looking-things. Dean picks up one and is about to start eating it when Cas moves around him, taking the muffin-thing from his hands along with an extra one and heading over to Sam’s tent.  
             Dean shouldn’t have thought that he would get off easy. Silent treatment for him, apparently.  
             “I’m sorry, Dean, I only had money for three and I assumed Sam would need an extra. I apologize for the inconvenience. You can take the last one and I’ll try to find some fruit to eat.”  
             Or not, apparently. “No, man, it’s fine. I can wait ‘til we get to the next town to eat.”  
             “These pastries include meat, and I do not eat meat.”  
             “How do you not eat meat?” Dean asks, picking up the muffin-thingy nevertheless and taking a large bite out of it. “C’mon, you can explain while we find you some rabbit food. Sam’s not going to wake up for another half-hour at least, by the looks of it.”  
             Cas nods, and by the time they find a tree with some kind of fruit hanging off of the limbs Cas had explained most of the dynamics behind his tree-and-bush-produced-food-items-only diet, and Dean is longing for another one of those muffin-thingamabobs. “So, which Air Temple we goin’ to?” Dean asks as they pick fruit for Cas’ meal.  
             “The Northern Air Temple.”  
             “Oh, well, lucky us. That’s about maybe a week’s walk from here.” Dean grins at Cas, and, though Dean is pretty sure his eyes or the light are tricking him somehow, he thought he saw Cas’ cheeks turn pink-ish.  
             “Lucky us, indeed.”

Dean was correct. It possibly a week Castiel along with his two new friends, if he is fortunate enough to call them that, have made the journey from wherever they were to here, at the foot of the Northern Air Temple.  
              It is amazing that it’s still standing. The Fire Nation had dealt a very powerful blow to his temple at the beginning of the war, but, once it was discovered that the Avatar was located at the Southern Air Temple, it was left alone. Since then, restoration was initiated and completed, and now the Monks have even allowed refugees from a small Earth Kingdom town to reside in the temple.  
             What throws Castiel off is the Fire Nation war balloon that drifts by not long after him and Dean and Sam arrive. Of course, that is temporarily forgotten when, after all three of them make it to the top (and Cas held Dean possibly a tiny bit too closely as he helped him to the top), Castiel is glad to see a familiar blond walking towards him.  
“Castiel! Why, I haven’t seen you in months!” Balthazar gives Castiel a quick hug before turning his gaze onto Sam and Dean. “And you are?” He asks with clear disinterest (only asking for the sake of seeming polite, probably).  
             “These are my friends, Dean and Sam.” Castiel smiles as he uses the word ‘friends.’ Right after he finishes speaking he turns his head to glance at Dean, making sure he doesn’t look uncomfortable at the term. Dean doesn’t, and Cas’ smile grows a centimeter or two.  
             “Last name?” Balthazar questions with a bored look on his face mixed with slight annoyance. Cas sighs internally. This is predictable behavior for Balthazar, so he wonders why it’s bothering him so much this time when normally Bal’s behavior never affected him.  
             “Winchester.” Dean replies, confidently and without a shred of hesitation, almost like a practiced line.  
             Before Balthazar could respond with anything insulting or otherwise, Castiel interjects, “Why did a Fire Nation war balloon pass by earlier?”  
             “Oh, that? We don’t know. But, they haven’t ever bothered us, so we don’t bother them. We suppose it’s a patrol of some sort. Some kind of search for the Avatar.”  
             “But I thought the Avatar lives in the Fire Nation?” Sam joins in the conversation, curiosity covering up his worried tone successfully.  
             “That’s what we thought, too, but apparently not. Every child in the Fire Nation that could possibly be the Avatar was tested, and none of them turned out to be the one. Now, they assume that he’s been raised by ‘enemy forces’ to fight Fire Lord Lucifer.”  
             “But why? And how do you know so much about this?”  
             “To either kill him or her and start the process all over again, killing more people until the Avatar is a firebender once again. Or, possibly brain-wash him or her or whatever or something along those lines, if the Avatar is still young enough to be susceptible to that sort of thing. And to answer your other question, I’m afraid I don’t kiss and tell.”

“Captain Zachariah, sir, one of the balloons has reported seeing the Avatar!” The young Fire Navy office almost yelps as soon as Zachariah allows him into his chambers.  
             “Where?” He asks, already pulling on his armor and heading out of the door, gesturing for the young officer to follow him.  
             “The Northern Air Temple, Sir.”  
             “And you’re sure it’s him?”  
             “Well, no, sir, but—“  
             “Have I given you permission to be aboard this vessel so that you can feed me information full of holes?” Zachariah asks, a flame already bursting to life within his clenched fist.  
             “No, sir, I apologize, sir!”  
             “Good.” The flames start to die down. “Now, has he been spotted or not?”  
             “We believe so, sir. There is a man at the Northern Air Temple who matches a previous description of the Avatar, and he seems to be the right age.”  
             Zachariah sighs. He hates this, being on a ship that’s overflowing with idiots and imbeciles. He is one of the best firebenders of the generation, if not all of history, and is destined for greatness, not for a measly singular ship full to the brim with incompetent underlings! But, this is the best lead they have had on the Avatar in weeks. At this rate, Gabriel will be able to catch the Avatar before him, and Zachariah will simply not allow that to happen. “Set our course for the Northern Air Temple.”  
             “Yes, sir!” Zachariah can hear the officer run off as he continues on his way to the deck.

“So, Cassie, what are you doing hanging around those two?” Balthazar starts up the questions again once Dean and Sam have left to explore the temple. (Balthazar didn’t know that Sam was the Avatar. After a bit of deliberation, they decided it might not be a good idea to tell anyone that didn’t absolutely have to know.)  
             “What do you mean?” Cas replies.  
             Balthazar gawks in response. “One of them’s an earthbender, and the other doesn’t seem to bend at all. You couldn’t be further from your usual group. What, are you going through some form of rebellious phase?”  
             “They are both nice people.” Dean, especially, Castiel adds mentally.  
             “Why don’t you just come back to the temple?”  
             “Don’t start this up again, Balthazar.”  
             “But here you’re home! What reason do you have for running around with those fools? Have you forgotten all the responsibilities that you left behind when you ran off, or did that slip your mind at some point?”  
             “You know that that was not my inten—“  
             “Then come back!”  
             “No, Balthazar, and that’s final,” Castiel announces as he looks Balthazar dead in the eye, his voice becoming a bit of a low growl as he speaks. Bal puts up his hands in the universal sign of surrender, and Cas stalks off to go join Sam and Dean.

Dean and Sam are admiring a huge sculpture of a monk when Dean sees Cas come walking towards them with a stormy look in his eye. It disappears when he makes eye-contact with Dean, though, so Dean thinks he’s imagined it. “Hey, man, where’ve ‘ya been?”  
             “Balthazar needed to discuss something with me.”  
             “Well, you missed out on some cool sight-seeing.”  
             “I used to live here, Dean. I’ve seen most of this temple at least one hundred times.”  
             “Oh, yeah, right,” Dean replies. He can feel his cheeks heat up a bit in embarrassment. “So, uh, what’d Balthazar tell you?”  
             “Nothing of impor—“  
             “I told him that we’re giving you a flying bison,” Balthazar interrupted.  
             “Woah, wait, what?” Sam walks over from the monk statue to say. Sam keeps joining in conversations late, Dean notices.  
             “You heard me. When Castiel left, he didn’t have a flying bison. Now that he’s back, for however short a period of time it is, the Monks have decided to give him one now.”  
              Cas looks confused as he responds, “aren’t all of the bison given to the young airbenders?”  
             “One of the young airbender unexpectedly died recently, and therefore we have one extra. She’s still very young, mind you, so she can’t travel airborne for very long periods of time, but she’s older than the others, so she should be able to hold all of your weight.”  
             “What’s her name?”  
             “She doesn’t have one. Follow me, I’ll show you to her,” Balthazar says with a sigh in his voice and a gesture of his hands. The other three follow him as he walks around a few corners and down a few hallways to an open area. Wandering around this open area is a large, but not as large as others that can be seen in the sky, white mess of fur with an arrow on its head that leads down its back and legs. “What do you want to call her?”  
            “Impala,” Dean announces, walking up to the mess of fur and patting her head. “Her name’s Impala.”  
             Dean takes an instant liking to the sky bison, much to Cas’ amusement and enjoyment, and before long the trio is leaving the Northern Air Temple behind. Of course, that’s also when they find out about Dean’s fear of flying, and decide that maybe they should go on foot for a while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, "female-oriented-entertainment" moments means chickflick moments. Also, when Cas helps Dean up to the temple, Dean could have done it on his own. He chose not to. Ta-da, more Destiel for 'ya.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See the end notes to see who dies in this chapter.

After traveling for a good few days, on foot still because Dean still can’t handle flight just yet, they finally come across an Earth Kingdom town that they can blend into easily (Impala was hard to hide at first, but they found a large shed that she seems to like and they fill it daily with hay to keep her fed. Cas also will sometimes take her outside and let her fly around if only so that she can stretch her limbs, but it doesn’t happen often, though she is rolling around in the grass next to the trio at the moment). It is fairly large, but not by much, and there are a lot of small clearings in the woods that surround the town on all sides expect for the side that backs up to the ocean. The trio decides that this place will be as good as any to teach Sam airbending, since every Air Temple is occupied and having that many people around that would all know who the Avatar is dangerous.  
             It’s a slow process, but over time Sam develops his skills and before long he is practicing more and more complicated and advanced bending moves. They are able to remain in that village for almost three months, but even in that short period of time, thanks to Sam’s huge learning curve, he learns all of what Castiel can teach him.  
             “I wish I could show you more, but this is all that I know.”  
             “No, Cas, it’s fine. You’ve taught me much more than I thought anyone would be willing to, with the state of the world and all.”  
             “You should really find yourself a master. I could recommend someone if you’d—“  
             “Do you really think a master would be willing to teach me?” Sam responds with a self-deprecating smile.  
             “If you are lucky, yes.”  
             “And if I’m unlucky?”  
             “He or she might knock you off of the temple.”  
             “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”  
             “I’m sorry, Sam.”  
             “It’s fine. Not your fault the world’s gone to shit.” Cas scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, an action Dean secretly finds completely and totally adorable, and looks as though he’s going to ask about it, but then just shuts his mouth, dismissing the sentence as another reference or term he will probably never understand.  
             “I’ll be on my way, then.” Cas and Sam share a hand-shake, and then Sam pulls Cas in for a one-armed hug, but as Cas goes to do the same with Dean, he stops Cas.  
             “Woah, woah, woah, you’re leaving already?”  
             “Yes, Dean. My work here is done.”  
             “But that doesn’t mean you have to leave! After all, who else is gonna help us when the time comes for us to face the Fire Lord?”  
             “I don’t know, but—“ (Cas is getting really tired of people cutting him off mid-sentence.)  
             “Just keep traveling with us! Where else are you gonna go, back to your Temple?”  
             “Yes, I was.”  
             “Oh,” Dean replies after a beat, looking defeated and dejected.  
             “But, I suppose I could come along until Sam has fully mastered all four elements,” Castiel says after a minute (he can’t handle the way Dean was looking at him and had to give in). “But after that, I have to return to my temple.”  
             Dean’s face lights up in a way that he will never admit to in the future, and he pulls Cas into a sudden hug. Then Sam looks at the two of them questioningly and Dean lets go and regains composure. “That’s great, Cas.” The smile remains, however. Impala gives an audible grunt of approval and licks Castiel’s face, causing Castiel to smile as well and Sam to laugh a bit.  
             Their smiles drop as they see ash start to fall from the sky.  
             Within a blink of an eye, Cas is up in the air and using his glider to search for the Fire Nation ships. He returns about ten minutes later, with a look of utter dread clear on his face. “They are not coming here,” he says. “They are headed for my temple.”

Dean, Sam, and Cas arrive at the Air Temple only a few hours after Cas spots the war ships (they flew there on Impala, and because of that after they land Dean dry heaves for a bit). However, once they get there, there’s no one to be seen. There are no sky bison flying around like before, and even the insects are quiet.  
             “Somethin’s not right here…” Dean states, turning around and feeling uneasy in the unnatural quiet of the place. He quickly shoos Impala off of the Temple, telling her to go wait on the ground below and that they’ll follow in a little while (he knows she probably has no idea what he’s saying, but it at least gets her to fly off to where is presumably where he told her to fly off to).  
             “No kidding. Cas, do you know what’s up?” Sam responds.  
             “No. In times of war, though we do not wish to fight, we refrain from retreating entirely.” Dean opens his mouth to ask about something, but before he can, a ball of fire is shot at him from behind a pillar. He blocks the blast by pulling up earth to surround and protect him, but he brings it back down once the fire is gone.  
             “What the hell?!” He shouts as more and more balls and spurts and bursts of fire come at them from every direction. Dean and Cas try to block the blasts while Sam attempts to bend the blasts back towards from where the originated, but then shackles are being shot out as well. One grabs Dean’s left arm and he breaks it by smashing the chain on a rock, but another one comes out just bas quick and catches his right. Before he can destroy that one as well more are grabbing his ankles and finally his other arm. He can feel electricity shock his limbs right after, and he falls uselessly to the ground with a yelp of pain.  
             Dean falls around the same time as Castiel, both with metal shackles on all of the limbs and even one around Cas’ neck. Sam falls right after, and Dean grumbles a low “shit” as he hears and soon after sees people approaching.  
             Dean is about to ask what happened with the electric shock when Cas cries out in a demanding voice, “Where are the rest of the airbenders? Where are my people?!”  
             “They are…out of the way.” A vice responds. Cas struggles slightly to lift his head and meets the eyes of an older man with white hair. “But, right now, I wouldn’t be worrying about that. You have different, much more important problems.”  
             “What could be more important to me than my people?” Cas growls.  
             “Oh, maybe something along the lines of surrendering now and coming with me peacefully or I’ll drop your boyfriend here over the edge,” the older man announces with a smile as he drags Dean up by his chains and shoves him into a metal coffin-like box that only has a small slot for Dean’s eyes.  
             Cas quiets down, but Dean has no intention of shutting his mouth. “If you were gonna kill us we’d be dead already. What’ya waiting for, huh?”  
             “If you must know, I am going to kill you, I’m just going to torture you to the point that you wish you were dead many times over before I do.” The older man starts to walk away. “The Fire Lord won’t tolerate any firebender that uses their power against him, and we intend to make an example out of you and your friend for allowing said bender to do so.” With a small gesture of his wrist, the other soldiers are hauling Sam and Cas to their feet and tugging them along by their chains.  
             “How long have you been here for?” Castiel questions, pushing his luck with how much information he can get out of this man before he’s thrown in some kind of cell.  
             “A little more than a month, I’d say. According to your friend, the blond one with the weird accent, or ex-friend I assume now, we showed up hardly a few days after you three left.”  
             “What’s happened to Balthazar?” The low, demanding tone has made its way back into Castiel’s voice.  
             “Nothing, yet. Though he was angered quite a bit when he found out that you kept the fact that you were escorting the Avatar hidden from him.” Castiel growls and struggles against his chains, which gets him a sharp yank on the chain that attaches to the shackle around his neck, causing him to choke a bit.

Sam, meanwhile, is fiddling with the shackles around his wrists. He figures that, while Cas and Dean preoccupy the old guy, he can somehow melt the chains and get free. He doesn’t know what he’ll do after that, but he just knows that he’s got to do something. If he doesn’t, his brother and his new closest friend will both die and the Northern Air Temple will be history!  
             As he’s thinking he almost misses the short figure that slips out of the shadows, though he can hardly miss the familiar voice that mumbles “run” and somehow breaks the chains off of his arms and legs. (If he would’ve looked back, if merely for a second, Sam would have seen the ice that remained on the broken parts of the chains.)  
             Sam, instead, runs for the nearest cover he can find when the soldiers start shooting fire again. The old guy shouts something and Cas is being dragged away more quickly with the box Dean is in being tugged along behind him. Sam has to act fast or—  
             Sam missed seeing the barrels of blasting jelly when they first arrived.  
             He also missed seeing the Fire Nation soldier that set fire to the barrels closest to Sam.

Dean watches with horror from inside the metal coffin as his brother turns around just as three barrels catch on fire and explode.  
             He watches as the rubble from the now-destroyed area of the temple falls to the ground below, knowing that if the blast didn’t kill Sam, the fall would.  
             He watches as, when the smoke clears, his brother stands there with glowing, white eyes, and starts to wreak havoc on the Fire Nation soldiers.

Gabriel and his uncle were searching aimlessly around the coastline near where the two groups fought, hoping to catch a glimpse of the three and be able to successfully capture them this time around. Gabe still had a messed up ankle, but it healed quickly with help from his bending and he was ready for action in a little under a month.  
             That was around when the ships started really started coming.  
             It was just a few at first, one or two more than usual but still nothing worth noticing. Then large groups of warships started to pass by them, all heading in the direction of the Northern Air Temple. Zachariah’s ship passed by theirs not long after that, and he even offered Michael to come along with him. When said man refused, Zachariah grew annoyed, but still kept from disrespecting Michael.  
             Around Gabriel? Not so much. Zachariah probably insulted him at least once per sentence whenever they were in the same room together, some of the insults veiled and some outright. They were all jabs at him for one thing or another, but Michael always held Gabe back before Gabriel could beat Zachariah into oblivion.  
             Zachariah hung around for a while, but never fully disclosed what he was doing with all these ships, so Gabriel figured it must be interesting enough and made a plan with his Uncle. Michael would agree to Zachariah’s offer and Gabriel would pretend to leave, when actually Gabriel would sneak onto the ship with his uncle’s help and his men would be free to do as they pleased for whatever amount of time they were gone.  
             Once they got to the Air Temple, Zachariah’s purpose was finally revealed. Gabe snuck off the ship as soon as they reached the base of the temple and was able to reach the actual temple on his own using waterbending. After poking around for a while to get some info on what was going down, eventually he heard two guards talking. The conversation was short, but he heard something about the Avatar and about capturing some people and about a probable promotion for Zachariah “if everything went well.” Since he heard no date or time pertaining to the Avatar’s arrival, Gabriel spent the next few days dodging between groups of Fire Nation soldiers as he tried to move between the ship and his hiding places in the temple before he gave up and just hid in the Temple until the Avatar showed up.  
             Finally, he would have his chance, he thought. He would go home and show off how he had the Avatar in chains to his brother, then life would go back to the way it was before. He would have all the respect and glory one could have in a singular lifetime! But, things didn’t go according to his plan, of course.  
             The Avatar did show up, and he did get captured, but it was Zachariah who managed to do it, not him. If Zachariah dragged him off in chains then Gabe wouldn’t get to, so the only solution he could think of in the span of two seconds was to free the Avatar and then get the fuck out. He used the bending water he’d brought (because he’s a fucking waterbender of course he has bending water what are you stupid) and broke the chains by freezing them and then, well, breaking them, and then he ran. Hopefully no one saw him, but he wore a random mask he’d had in his quarters just in case.  
             Right now he is staring in dumb fascination as the Avatar basically rises like a fucking phoenix after getting exploded off of the temple and starts blowing shit up. He then regains his senses and continues running like hell, but stops himself if only so that he can watch the wonderful spectacle of that ass Zachariah getting pounded into oblivion by a kid who looks hardly eighteen (though he’s still tall, not to mention hot, as fuck).

The guards standing around him and Dean run off to get help once Sam starts glowing, and this gives Cas the perfect opportunity to break Dean out of his metal container. Sadly, he is an airbender, and cutting through the metal with only air is going to take a while, and Sam needs help right now.  
             “Go help Sam, Cas. I got this.” Dean says knowingly with a hundred-lamp smile. Of course, Castiel knows that Dean doesn’t “got this” in the least, but Cas still returns the smile as best he can and goes to deal with the next wave of soldiers coming up the temple steps.

Dean starts feeling jolts of pain as he regains feeling and overall bending ability in his body. That electric shock did something to him that just messed him up in ways he can’t explain, but now he’s good, and he’s gotta go help his brother before his brother blows up the whole damn temple.  
             Dean sticks his face as far out of the slot as he can, and uses his chin to bend the earth beneath him and therefore skewer the metal coffin with a fat stake of rock. From there he uses the earth that was now inside the coffin to break away at the sides until he can roll out. After that, he’s on his feet and almost losing his head due to a fireball sent by one of the attacking Fire Nation soldiers. He retaliates by shooting said soldier of the temple cliff with a bolder.

When Sam goes into the Avatar State, it’s like a collective of all of the minds of all of his past lives take over. They give him the experience and knowledge he needs to win, and he uses it all to its full extent. He takes advantage of the natural resources around him, using large gusts of air to get rid of weaker enemies fast and slabs of rock and hot bursts of fire to handle more challenging enemies. He can’t use water, though, due to the lack of a large, conventional source and the dryness of the air.  
             However, when he faces Zachariah, it’s not how he expected it to happen.  
             Sam is distracted with encasing a large group of Fire Nation soldiers in a rock tomb when the glow starts to wear off. It’s slow at first, but then very fast, and before he knows it he’s his regular old self again, vulnerable as ever, and that’s when Zahariah attacks.  
             It’s like he came out of nowhere. At first Sam is just looking around and trying to figure out how to get back into the Avatar State, and then suddenly there’s an angry guy behind him about to set him on fire, when something strange happens. An icicle goes through him. A goddamn icicle. Sam couldn’t even do that. Zachariah falls, clutching said piece of frozen water and gasping, and staring at the bleeding body before him is the short Fire Nation guy from earlier. Sam is about to attack when the guy suddenly looks up, makes the “shh” motion, winks, and then runs off. Sam lets him go, considering how the guy just saved is life and all, and heads back over to the others to help finish the fight, Zachariah now dead and lying on the floor.

Shit.  
             Oh fucking shit.  
             He was seen.  
             Gabriel was fucking _seen_ by the Avatar, helping said Avatar (and helping him through killing a member of his own Nation, too!).  
             This really can’t get much worse for him.  
             If the Avatar says anything, and he means anything, about Gabe’s betrayal to anyone, and Gabriel’s finished.  
             He hadn’t meant to let it happen, but it just did!  
             Gabriel had taken off the mask to get a better look at what was happening, and he saw Zachariah sneak up on the now-normal-looking Avatar. He hadn’t meant to help, but he had, and had jumped out on instinct and stabbed Zachariah with the last of his bending water.  
             He should’ve just let the Avatar die, but he just couldn’t and he hated to think about his brain’s, or rather his dick’s (not his fault he finds his target very, very attractive), reasons behind that.

The battle was won once the soldiers noticed their leader was dead, and after Castiel searched the ships and found all of the airbenders inside, they were near unstoppable. The soldiers ran, and whichever ones couldn’t get away fast enough surrendered, and the trio left it to the Northern Air Temple to decide what happened to their new prisoners of war.  
             Castiel would have apologized to Balthazar had he been able to find him, but none of them could, and they were all eager enough to leave already, so they resolved to come back another time to have a chat with Bal, and left (Impala had actually gone to where Dean had instructed her to by some miracle, thank God).  
             Sam was zoned out for most of the time after being saved by the shortie as he thinks about what he saw. So, the shortie is a waterbender, not a firebender, but still fights for the Fire Nation? And why did he help Sam? It doesn’t make any sense. Dean starts talking about finding a waterbending master at some point, but all Sam can think about is the waterbender he met today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zachariah dies, of course.
> 
> I also have explanations/heancanons for pretty much everything I write so yeah. Comment if you want me to explain any of my reasoning.


End file.
